BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Attorneys for 19-year-old Jaymee
Smith, who is charged with capital murder, argued Thursday that witnesses and evidence
from an earlier shooting involving the same victim should not be admissible in
the most recent case against Smith.

At the 1:30 p.m. hearing, Jefferson County Circuit Judge
Virginia Vinson denied the defense's motion, ruling that the prosecution can
use evidence and witness accounts from the previous case.

Deputy Jefferson County District Attorneys Joe
Roberts and Shawn Allen are prosecuting the case. Roberts on Thursday told the
court that the pending case would be used as proof that Smith had a motive in
Dudley's slaying.

Sheffield argued that at least one of the witnesses
has lied about the first time Dudley was shot, and that Smith was not the
aggressor in that shooting.

Smith, of Ensley, was charged with attempted murder
in May after Birmingham police said he shot 33-year-old Jarvis Dudley.

Dudley survived, but on Nov. 5 he was killed in a
drive-by shooting in the 900 block of Avenue W. On Nov. 30, Smith
turned himself in at the jail on a capital murder charge, and a grand jury
indicted him in March.

Birmingham police have said there was an ongoing dispute
between Dudley and Smith, who was free on $30,000 bond when the second shooting
occurred.

In late December, the 23-year-old Bell was booked
into the Jefferson County Jail without bond. In March, a grand jury decided
there was not enough evidence to indict Bell, instead issuing a "no bill" in the
case.